Musings
by Namesake
Summary: Everything has its own place. Even if they are so far removed from where they're suppsoed to be, eventually, they will find thier place of belonging. After the Revolution, Himura Kenshin wanders around Japan. He is unconciously searching for something.
1. Wonders of a Wanderer

Carry on my wayward son  
They'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more  
  
Once I rose above the noise and confusion  
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion  
I was soaring ever higher  
But I flew too high  
  
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man  
Though my mind can think I still was a mad man  
I hear the voices while I'm dreaming  
I can hear them say:  
  
Carry on our wayward son  
They'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more  
  
Masquerading as man with reason  
My charade is the event of the season  
And if I claim to be wise man  
Though, it surely means that I don't know  
  
On a story sea of grueling emotion  
Tossed about just like a ship on the ocean  
I set a course for winds of fortune  
But I hear the voices say:  
  
Carry on our wayward son  
They'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more  
  
Carry on, you will always remember  
Carry on, that can equal the splendor  
Now your life's no longer empty  
Surely Heaven'll wait for you  
  
Carry on our wayward son  
They'll be peace when you are done  
Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry  
Don't you cry  
No more  
  
No more.  
  
". . ." - speech  
  
~*^^*~ - POV change  
  
~`~`~ - time change  
  
~^*^*^~ - dream sequence  
  
Wonders of a Wanderer  
  
He had just left another town, his gunnysack slung over his shoulder. His long hair, pulled back in a ponytail swayed in the breeze. Years ago he had moved the ponytail from the top of his head to the base of it. It . . . just felt more right that way.  
  
Stopping shortly for dinner, the man repacked his gunnysack, covered his fire-pit and continued down the dirt road.  
  
~`~`~  
  
Sometime around dusk, the traveler heard the distinct sounds of battle. He turned startled eyes to the sounds as shouts off all kinds bombarded his ears.  
  
"There's one on the hill!"  
  
"Kill him!"  
  
The traveler unconsciously took a step back and started running when the sound of hooves churning dirt met his ears. Something deep within him roared and snarled release from its confines. He reasoned with it to remain content, but he soon realized the beast had no reason. The beast comprehended bloodlust, the will to live, and the reward after a job.  
  
The traveler's head pounded spasmodically, not in beat with his heart nor with the hooves behind him. When he turned, his sword was already in his had and he was moving toward the horses.  
  
~*^^*~  
  
The warriors had been told by their captain to surround the perimeter to make sure no one came near their battle. It was a common procedure. If anyone came near the command was simple: kill the trespasser.  
  
So here they were, bored as ever, watching the carnage. The eyes of the men always drifted between the road they were supposed to be watching and the battle that heated their blood. As some of their eyes began to wander to the battlefield from the road, they abruptly returned when two of their number shouted.  
  
"There's one of the hill!"  
  
"Kill him!"  
  
Indeed, this battle could not be seen by outsiders, for they wouldn't understand the unique physics that it was made of . . . or the reasons of it. The two that spoke charged while the others watched. Surely only two were needed to take care of this figure. He didn't look the least bit threatening. Gray hakamas, and a pale haori worn loosely about his figure that was worn and a little threadbare while on his feet over visibly new socks he had worn sandals. He had a sword at his hip, but these days who didn't?  
  
The two riders closed in on the hapless traveler whopping. No one expected what happened next.  
  
The figured turned, apparently to flee, but his form relaxed, he turned and ran at the horses. Time stood still as the figure, head down sword arm crossed in front of him. He stood. When he was at his full height, he snapped his head to turn eerie eyes on the rest of them. Two thuds signaled two dead samurai.  
  
Suddenly, the leader of these scouts was nervous. The unwavering gold gaze of this new threat seemed somewhat familiar.  
  
During the revolution, a sudden memory intoned. There was an assassin that was perfect in every aspect. He was never seen. He was never caught. He killed his victim without the victim eliciting a single noise. The Hitoriki Battousai was the perfect assassin. He was rumored to have a high red horse tail and a hawk's gaze . . . a predator stalking unsuspecting prey. . . . . .  
  
"A hawk's gaze . . ." he mumbled. Indeed, this new threat had the regal gold eyes of a falcon. Falcon, hawk, close enough for him. Before he knew it, the Battousai had started to wreak havoc throughout his troops. Suddenly, fear welled up in him and he cried out.  
  
"It's the Battousai!"  
  
~*^^*~  
  
I wonder how long it will take them, the traveler stated as he drew his set his pack on the ground. He sifted through it, his hands touching a sheath wrapped in a soft blue cloth he drew the sword, and the blue scarf. Wrapping the scarf around his neck, he prayed a silent prayer of, please, forgive me this once, before he withdrew the sword at his hip and leapt into the mass of samurai.  
  
He used the sword from his hip to deliver blows to heads while the sword from his pack to deliver blows through armor.  
  
"It's the Battousai!"  
  
Damn, he thought as he pulled his crimson sword out of one very belligerent foe. Now I'll have to chase them.  
  
But his dark thought was the complete opposite, for, unknown to him, everyone wanted to kill him and be deemed "the greatest swordsman of Japan". So he was quite surprised to find about two dozen horsemen charging him.  
  
He sighed. May the spirits of the innocent forgive me.. And with that the Battousai coloured the ground with the after effects of the dance of death.  
  
~`~`~  
  
The traveler opened his eyes to a hand removing a cool cloth from his forehead.  
  
"Oh, you're awake." A female voice . . . a startled female voice.  
  
"Where.ungh," A sore arm lifted a sore hand to his pounding head.  
  
"I'll be right back," the female stated and the soft patter of stocking feet told him that the person tending him had left for reasons of her own. With her absence, the traveler took this alone time to evaluate his body.  
  
His arms were sore, his left one stiff as well indicating an injury. His back was sore, probably bruised. His shallow breathing was due to bruised or broken ribs. And to top it off, his head felt like a horse had stepped on it.  
  
His eyes darted to the shoji as slid open. A female and someone else stood in the doorway with a candle to see with. He turned his head away and sighed. He was in the dark, and he wanted some answers.  
  
"Neko, go take care of the dishes with Inu," the shadowed one told the girl.  
  
"Yes, sir," was the girl's reply. With a slight bow, she excused herself and headed toward the kitchen.  
  
The shadowed figure picked up the candle and stepped into the room. It was finally revealed as a she. This older female put her palm to his forehead and frowned. She checked his left arm, bending it and her frown deepened when he hissed. She pulled the sheet that covered him down slightly to look at his multi coloured chest. A scattering of yellow, browns, blue, purple, black, with a tinge of green here and there was a sure sign of bruises and a few broken ribs. She sighed and, with much hissing on his part, helped him into a sitting position. She thrust a mug into his hands.  
  
"The tea should help your fever and your body needs the nutrients," she stated. He only nodded as he gulped the tea down, wanting nothing now but to lie back down. He set the mug aside and, with the help of his unnamed overseer, laid back down.  
  
"I'm sure you have questions," she stated rather tiredly. "When you wake up tomorrow, send Inu to find me. She'll be the one looking over you tomorrow." The traveler nodded and she left through the shoji whence she came.  
  
Now that he was by himself, the traveler looked around. The room was sparsely furbished. One wall had two paintings: one was a bird and the other was a landscape. There was a plant on a desk in one corner. His pallet was situated under a window where moonlight entered to dimly illuminate his room.  
  
He sighed again. It seems he would have to see his room in more detail when the sun rose. Exhausted, the traveler closed his eyes and embraced sleep.  
  
~^*^*^~  
  
"Don't you know every good sword needs a sheath?" she inquired.  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"Every good sword needs a sheath. Let me be your sheath. How long will you continue killing? I want to see. I want to see how long you will keep killing with my own eyes."  
  
He sighed. Shouting ensued.  
  
"Look, over there!"  
  
"That's got to be him!"  
  
"Stupid fools," he mumbled.  
  
Drawing his sword he rushed forward and ended six more lives. He turned his dark eyes back to the woman in the white kimono. Raising his eyebrows, he finally coaxed her to move forward. She stepped through the crimson puddles, soft brown eyes never leaving his dark cobalt gaze. He fled around the corner, a woman in a white kimono following his crimson footsteps with scarlet ones of her own.  
  
~*^^*~  
  
"I've prepared a house for you in Otsu. Pretend to be newly weds and stay there," Kastura told him. His eyes widened and the woman behind him gasped. "If you're married you'll be less suspicious. I'll have Iisuka stay in touch with you. Wait for my word. Go, quickly."  
  
~*^^*~  
  
"Is there something wrong?" the stray cat asked.  
  
"I haven't tasted sake this good in a long time," was his astonished reply.  
  
She smiled. "It's festival time!"  
  
"I guess so . . ."  
  
~^*^*^~  
  
He slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to rid himself of sleep and to get used to the very bright daylight. An east facing window had it's pros and cons.  
  
"Good, you're awake."  
  
He turned his head slightly to see a smiling girl. She had light brown hair that was restricted in a plait. A few strands hung in the girls smiling face. She opened her eyes to show startling emerald eyes. She was definitely not from this area. He sighed, something he was doing a lot lately.  
  
"You must be Inu," he said.  
  
"That I am, sir," Inu replied.  
  
"I was told last night by the person with Neko that I was to send you to get her," he told her.  
  
"Arasotta-san told me that you would say this, yes," Inu replied.  
  
After her statement, she didn't move. She was still kneeling next to his pallet. Turning his eyes, dark ones met green ones. Her eyes betrayed nothing, and the seeming mask of her face was likewise. He patiently searched her eyes with a strong will, waiting for when she would give him a hint.  
  
Instead, she turned her head and sighed. She had found something in his eyes by her posture. "Neko and I aren't from around here," she stated softly. "Where we are from, we don't know. We've been wandering around as long as we can remember, like dogs and cats. We have long since forgotten our names, adopting the wandering animal's names as our own even."  
  
The traveler nodded, approving her explanation. "I'll get Arasotta-san for you."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Inu stood up and left through the sliding shoji. A few moments later, the soft sound of stocking feet resounded in the hallway. His shoji slid open again and, who he guessed was Arasotta-san entered his room, sliding the shoji shut behind herself.  
  
"Sorry to keep you waiting . . ." she let her sentence hang in the air.  
  
"Just call me Tabi," the man on the pallet replied.  
  
"Okay then, sorry to keep you waiting, Tabi-san," Arasotta-san replied. "If Inu hasn't told you yet, I'm Arasotta. Ituwaranai Arasotta."  
  
"Pleasure meeting you, Arasotta-sama," Tabi replied.  
  
"If you don't mind me asking," Arasotta inquired. "How did you get so banged up? I've only seen samurai and hitoriki come back looking like that."  
  
"I was caught in a place that I shouldn't have been," Tabi replied. "It seems that I had ventured a little too close to a battle that I shouldn't have witnessed." Unbeknownst to him, Tabi's eyes hardened. "The perimeter saw me as something to keep them occupied."  
  
Arasotta nodded sagely. She had heard similar stories from others in town when she went to buy fish or vegetables.  
  
Tabi was startled out of dark thoughts by a cool hand to his forehead. When the hand drew away, his eyes met light brown eyes. "You're fever is gone." He only nodded to her good news. She moved his left arm again and she frowned when he hissed in pain filled agitation.  
  
"I don't know what's wrong with your left arm," she stated bluntly. "The medicine man and his wife don't come to town until tomorrow. I could have his wife look at your arm, if it's okay with you that is."  
  
"It's nearing winter," Tabi stated.  
  
"That it is," Arasotta replied.  
  
"If it's okay with you, I'll stay over the winter and help you around the inn," Tabi started. "So, if you would like capable help over the winter, perhaps it would be best if you had the doctor's wife look at my arm."  
  
"I could use your help over the winter," Arasotta stated. "A young man's help is something I haven't had in a while, that it is." She smiled at him. "Rest now. Your ribs are healing nicely."  
  
He drank some tea and ate a little rice before Arasotta left him again. Tabi closed his eyes and welcomed sleep.  
  
~`~`~  
  
". . . fever for how many days?" an unfamiliar female voice said.  
  
"He had a fever for six days, Kabuki-sama," Arasotta responded. "It broke two and a half days ago."  
  
Tabi slowly opened his eyes to see another woman talking with Arasotta. Frowning, his slow memory told him that this woman, Kabuki-sama did Arasotta-san say?, was the doctor that was mentioned in their previous conversation.  
  
"Ah, your awake," the newcomer stated. How come people always stated the obvious? Tabi pondered this new development. "I'm, the wife of the doctor that frequents here," she went on to say. "You can call me Kabuki."  
  
"Sure, Kabuki-sama," Tabi stated.  
  
"What's your name, stranger?" Kabuki asked making small talk as she examined his ribs.  
  
"You can call me Tabi," he stated blandly.  
  
"Ah, so we have a wanderer in our midst," she stated as she moved from his ribs to his left arm. "You said his left arm wasn't healing like his right?" The question was directed to Arasotta.  
  
"Yes," Arasotta said with a nod of her head.  
  
Kabuki unwrapped his arm to find an angry black and purple bruise covering the middle of his forearm. She poked it in several places eliciting hisses and whimpers from Tabi in several tender areas.  
  
"I think it's a type of break, but I haven't seen this kind," she stated. "Don't use it until the bruise is a light brown. I don't think the bandage is necessary. If it starts to hurt, put it in a sling." Tabi and Arasotta nodded. "The bruising around his ribs has diminished, so I think it is safe for him to move about. Don't lift anything heavy for a while that will irritate your ribs, you hear?"  
  
"Yes, Kabuki-sama," Tabi replied. Kabuki smiled.  
  
"I think a walk would do you good."  
  
"Yes Kabuki-sama," Tabi replied.  
  
~`~`~  
  
Tabi awoke sometime later to the shoji door opening. He turned his head to see Inu and Neko enter his room with food and drink. He looked at them, questioning with his eyes.  
  
"It's our break, that it is," Inu said.  
  
"And we thought that since the doctor said you should start moving around, we thought that we would share dinner with you, that we did," Neko explained. Tabi's eyes softened the slightest bit.  
  
"How thoughtful of you two, that you were," Tabi replied in kind with a smile. The girls giggled. Struggling to a sitting position, Tabi managed to eat dinner with the girls while the told them of the happenings of the town he was currently staying in. 


	2. Winter Chill

Vocabulary: Inu - dog  
  
Neko - cat  
  
Tabi - traveler  
  
Hakamas - loose pants typical of the time for males (sometime in Meiji Era).  
  
Haori - a loose top typical for males.  
  
Hitoriki - assassin  
  
Battousai - specific type of assassin that was infamous during the revolution leading to the Meiji era.  
  
Otsu - a town  
  
Shoji - door made of rice paper reinforced with a wood/bamboo skeleton  
  
Samurai - warriors of the time. They were like the knights of Japan.  
  
- chan - suffix showing equality, used to address girls.  
  
-kun - the equivalent of -chan, used to address boys.  
  
-san - Mr./Mrs./Ms/ a suffix showing more responsibility and respect.  
  
-sama - lord/lady showing high respect.  
  
Arasotta - informal past indicative form of the verb araso.u meaning to dispute.  
  
Ituwaranai - informal negative indicative form of the verb ituwar.u meaning to lie, to deceive.  
  
"Dust in the Wind" by Kansas  
  
I close my eyes  
If only for a moment and the moments gone  
  
All my dreams  
Pass before my eyes in curiosity  
  
Dust in the wind.  
All they are is dust in the wind.  
  
Same old song  
Just a drop of water in an endless sea  
  
All we do  
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see  
  
Dust in the wind.  
All we are is dust in the wind  
  
O~h  
  
Now, don't hang on  
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky  
  
It slips away  
And all your money won't another minute buy  
  
Dust in the wind.  
All we are is wind  
(all we are is dust in the wind)  
  
Dust in the wind  
  
(everything is dust in the wind)  
Everything is dust in the wind.  
  
_#_ - flashback  
  
The Winter Chill  
  
"Tabi! Tabi-kun come quickly, you must," Neko cried. "We have something to show you, that we do!"  
  
"Come on, come on, Tabi-kun," Inu echoed her sister.  
  
"I'm coming, that I am. You needn't pull, that you don't," Tabi replied smiling. "What do you have to show me?" The girls just giggled and kept dragging them.  
  
Inu and Neko dragged Tabi down the one flight of stairs, then another, through a shoji, and down two halls before coming to a door. Tabi, slightly confused, looked at the girls. The indicated the door. Ah! So he was supposed to open the door! This revelation caused his curiosity to peek. He looked at the girls again as his hand reached to slid the door open. The nodded and giggled. Shrugging, Tabi opened the door.  
  
_#_  
  
"We've found the traitor," Iisuka stated. "It was Tomoe."  
  
"No, it can't be," he said in disbelief.  
  
"If you don't believe me, take a look at her journal," Iisuka stated as he pulled his pipe out and entered the cottage.  
  
"On the streets of Kyoto," the journal said, "he became a man never to return. My happiness died with him that day on the streets of Kyoto." He dropped the book, several drops of blood following its path.  
  
_#_  
  
"Tabi?"  
  
Tabi blinked several times before looking to his left, at Inu.  
  
"Tabi?"  
  
Tabi turned his head to Neko, who, promptly gasped when he looked at her.  
  
"What is it, Neko?" Tabi asked slowly.  
  
"Tabi, your face is bleeding, that it is," she whispered. Tabi's eyes widened, causing more blood to well up on the side of his face. Yes, now he felt it gathering at his chin. Slowly, in disbelief, he raised his hand to the left side of his face. Pulling his hand away, the red, metallic scented blood mocked him as it ran freely down his face.  
  
"Tabi?"  
  
"Tabi, where are you going?"  
  
Those words followed him down the halls as he ran through the inn to find someplace to brood.with a towel.  
  
~`~`~  
  
Sitting in a cold niche under some remote set of stairs, Tabi reflected upon the events that had led up to his old scar bleeding again. It hadn't bled since.well since SHE had given him the one that ran perpendicular to it. The girls had told him they had something important to show him. Each had grabbed one of his hands. They had led him to the door that lead to one of the woodsheds. He opened the door.and how the sun reflected off the snow.the glare and the shadow.it was exactly like when Iisuka.  
  
Tabi sighed. Pulling the towel away and folding it again, he pressed it back to his face. Pulling it away briefly to look at it, he noted it had finally started to clot. Setting the cloth in his lap, Tabi leaned his head against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut. Why? Why him? Why now? What had happened?  
  
I'll have to face them sometime, Tabi thought.  
  
You'll also have to face your past sometime too, an evil little voice in his head told him. Damn that voice. He sighed again.  
  
Raising his hand to his face, Tabi traced the raw line that he had gotten on that lonely street in Kyoto so long ago.  
  
It must have been the sudden strong sense of betrayal, love and hurt that I had felt so long ago practically on this same day, Tabi surmised. Yeah, that had to be it.  
  
Slowly, Tabi stood up. He had to find Arasotta-san and find some work to do. The first few days of winter were bad for him. Grabbing the bloody cloth, Tabi made his way down the hall.  
  
~`~`~  
  
Unlucky for him, Neko and Inu had found Arasotta-san. Sitting in front of her, he had to endure her nerve-racking gaze.well, almost nerve-racking gaze. He had experienced many gazes that had more chilling aspects in them than hers. Although Arasotta-san's gaze was well on its way of being marked on his list of freaky stares.  
  
"Is there anything that I need to know about concerning you, Tabi?"  
  
Tabi cringed. She was being way too nice about this. Something wasn't right about it. She was searching for something.  
  
"Something that happened long ago that I don't want to concern you with, Arasotta-san, it is," Tabi replied.since when had he picked up the accent around here?  
  
She looked at him for what seemed ten minutes before she closed her eyes and resigned. All those years of doing what he had had finally paid off with hard, non-betraying eyes. "If there is anything you want to talk about," Arasotta-san stated. "I am always here to listen." She paused for a minute as if considering something before she continued. "Or I know a male figure that would listen to you if you wish to divulge in a male companion."  
  
"Thank you for your concern, Arasotta-san, really," Tabi stated. He stood, bowed, and waited to be recognized again.  
  
"Yes?" Oh, great, now I'm going to sound like an idiot.  
  
"Is there anything specific that you need me to do?" he asked her somewhat shyly.  
  
"I need some wood chopped for the kitchen woodshed, enough for a week," she started. "I'll need you to bring some wood to the dining area, then cut some for that wood shed." She paused, her brows furrowed. "Oh! And could you go to the market for me? I'll have a list for you and one of the girls can go with you, that they can."  
  
"I'll do that and be back here when I'm done with the wood, that I will," Tabi said as he bowed again and left through the shoji door.  
  
~`~`~  
  
The wood clever came down, slicing through the wood and making a sharp tack sound. A red image of a sword going through various people accompanied that sound. Tabi picked up the fallen pieces of wood, stacked them in the wood shed, and returned to an already chopped pile to take into the kitchen.  
  
Now, where are the girls, I wonder, Tabi thought as he wandered through the inn. The first person he stumbled upon was Yuki. He nodded hello, she blushed, and he was on his way. Finally, Tabi found Inu among some other girls polishing dishes.  
  
"Inu." She looked up. "Inu, I need you to come with me to see Arasotta- san." Inu nodded, set her dish and cloth down, apologized to the other girls for not helping, then stood and followed Tabi as he turned around and left the room.  
  
Four hallways and two flights of stairs later, Tabi and Inu were in Arasotta-san's room.  
  
"Ah, Tabi and Inu," Arasotta said with a smile. "I need you to go to the market for me." She handed Tabi a list and a pouch of coins. Then she handed Inu a small pouch of coins and Tabi a small pouch of coins. Tabi looked at her confused, but she had already moved onto other matters. Inu took his free hand and dragged him out of the room. Once outside the door, Tabi voiced his confusion.  
  
"What's the smaller pouch for?"  
  
"It's your pay, smart one, that it is," Inu stated then stuck her tongue out. "She'll pay the others later, but I guess she figured since we were going to the market now, we'd want to buy something, that she did."  
  
Tabi nodded. It made sense to him. With Inu behind him, the two young people made their way out of the inn.  
  
~`~`~  
  
"We got the fish, that we did," Inu said. "What now?"  
  
"We need to buy vegetables and rice now, that we do," Tabi said. "And then we can spend our pay if we wish, that we can."  
  
Inu smiled. Tabi had a large fish while Inu carried a basket of fish as they traversed the market to the vegetable section. There, radishes and okra among other items was bought. Two gunnysacks of rice, slung over Tabi's shoulders, was the end of Arasotta-san's list.  
  
"Now, do you want to buy something?" Tabi asked the girl. Inu shook her head.  
  
"I'm saving to buy a horse, that I am," Inu stated. Tabi stared wide-eyed at the girl. "I should have enough by next festival to buy a horse, that I should."  
  
Tabi was thoughtful for a moment. He wanted to buy a kit for his sword, but he couldn't leave the girl alone in the market place. It was too close to festival time. Sighing, he turned and beckoned Inu to follow him. Tabi lead the girl to the working part of the village. Past stables, barrel makers, Tabi stopped at a smith's. Entering, a bell tinkled. Several dingy men looked up. One man, wiping his hands on an apron, walked over and introduced himself as Sasou.  
  
"So, how may I help you?" Sasou inquired.  
  
"I'm looking for supplies for swords, that I am," Tabi said.  
  
"Anything specific, traveler?" Sasou prompted.  
  
Tabi took a moment to think before responding. "I'll need something to sharpen it, oil, that kind of stuff."  
  
"Okay," Sasou said slowly before going to the back. Tabi nodded, but as soon as the cloth stopped flapping something ran down his spine that heightened his senses and put ever danger sense on high. And it was his luck that he had left his sword in his room. The men that were sitting around were giving him looks.  
  
.Damn. His look darkened and his hand strayed to Inu's shoulder. He had just ordered the same material he had ordered when he was still a hitoriki. He bent down to Inu and started to whisper instructions when the door behind them burst in. Inu screamed, but still held onto the groceries. Tabi grabbed her, and leapt out the opening created by the intruder. He jumped to the top of the building across the street, then to the street beyond that.  
  
Setting Inu on her feet and slinging the rice over her shoulders, Tabi gave her one simple instruction: "Go to the inn, now." She nodded and started to jog back to the inn.  
  
Tabi on the other hand, ran back to the shop when shouts reached his ears. Pausing at the head of an alley, Tabi watched with calm gold eyes as the scene unfolded. Slowly, he slunk over to the shop, picked up a sword, and made his presence known.  
  
"If you give me what I came for, no blood will have to be spilled."  
  
Everything just seemed to freeze. The men that had been looking for him glanced at him before staring openly with wide eyes. The men that had been sitting around drinking gazed at him will cool, calculating eyes. They were hitoriki of some kind. The feeling of predators dripped off of them.  
  
"And which hitoriki are you that has come for a sword kit?"  
  
Tabi sifted through the crowd and found Sasou its source.  
  
"Since your stubborn pride thinks I'm one of those," he jerked his head at the lounging hitoriki, "that will be taken easily, you are wrong." The lounging men stiffened with indignation.  
  
"And why is that?" Sasou said. "How do I know that you are below them?"  
  
"Because I am the Hitoriki Battousai," Tabi said with a voice of ice and glaring amber/gold eyes. The others hitoriki dropped some of their drinks and pulled out their swords. Tabi slid into a stance that was neither offensive nor defensive. One charged, quickly followed by the rest.  
  
A tanned hand stroked an ivory face. "I will continue to fight and kill, but when the new era comes I will find a way to rectify my misdeeds. I will never kill again when that time comes."  
  
Steel sung as the two swords clashed. Tabi pushed him away to block the next. Slowly, careful not to inflict life threatening wounds or dole out death, Tabi wreaked havoc throughout the pitiful group that had dared to take him on. When the last man did nothing but offer his sword on one knee, Tabi motioned for him to hold it upright. He obliged and Tabi cut it clean in half. He turned angry eyes to Sasou.  
  
"I want my kit," he stated emotionlessly. "NOW."  
  
Sasou gulped and, shaking slightly, walked toward Tabi. Sasou stopped a few feet away and offered him the package. Tabi took it in exchange for the sword that he had wielded.  
  
"I hope your kits are better than your swords," he replied off hand. "Because that one broke." Indeed when the money Tabi tossed over his shoulder had landed at Sasou's feet, the sword in his hand shattered into thousands of pieces.  
  
~`~`~  
  
The sky had been a lovely slate colour when Tabi and Inu had left. By the time the complications at the smith's had ended and Tabi had started home, a cold wind blew, whipping his horsetail painfully against his back. Soon after, snow came down in blinding sheets.  
  
Tabi started to run. He didn't fancy getting lost in a town a barely knew. But it seemed the Fates were against him. By the second the light gave way to darkness and the snow came down harder, soaking his clothes clean through. Cold and stiff, his muscles started to become sluggish. Unbeknownst to him, Tabi had slowed to a walk.  
  
When the tone of the wind changed, Tabi knew he had come to a cross section. But with all his running through the snow, he didn't know which way to turn to make it back to the inn.  
  
"Koi."  
  
He turned his head sharply to the where he thought he heard the voice.  
  
"Koi, this way."  
  
There it was again. Taking unsteady steps, Tabi slowly made his way towards the voice.  
  
"Koi, remember the irises."  
  
Huh? What was this about irises.wait.was that a fire?  
  
"Koi, remember.please, don't be bitter."  
  
He turned again. Who was talking to him? A sharp wind bit him as it howled down the street. Tabi flinched and shivered as it ran rampant around him and the blackness that encompassed him like it did his soul.  
  
"Koi, you must move. You'll catch cold if you stay still."  
  
That phrase was so familiar in itself it prompted him forward. Struggling through thigh deep snow, Tabi made his way left, again following the voice.  
  
Just when he thought he'd give up and succumb to the nagging of his mind he distinctly heard something on the wind that wasn't the voice. But how the wind was acting, he wasn't sure from which direction it was coming from. He stood, his arms clasped around himself trying greedily to retain some of his body heat that was quickly abandoning him.  
  
"Koi."  
  
He moved his leg forward in the ever-deepening snow. In all his years of living he had never recalled a storm such as this.  
  
"Koi."  
  
For some reason, he couldn't fathom why for his mind was too far influenced by the cold to reason, to Tabi the voice sounded distressed.  
  
"Koi, I'm so very sorry."  
  
In that instant, Tabi knew who it was that was leading him through the storm. He stopped, despite the urgings of the voice. The tears that were stolen and whipped around by the wind crystallized in the air while some froze on his face, streaks of liquid silver running from his eyes to the top of his ears.  
  
"Koi, it's alright. I want to be warm. Please, koi, help me get to the inn, please?" It was barely more than a whisper from Tabi's partially frozen throat.  
  
"Yes, koi."  
  
Tabi walked toward the voice when suddenly something appeared through the gloom of the storm that so reminded him of the deep reaches of his soul and the core of his heart. It danced with the violent wind. Soft hissing reached his ears, distorted by the angry wind, deprived of the prey it had worked so hard to obtain.  
  
Draw to the light like the moth to the flame, Tabi continued the arduous task of walking through snow that was rising ever higher.  
  
When he reached the light, he barely had the energy left to leave the infringing darkness and step into the light.  
  
"Koi, come to me."  
  
Tabi turned partially frozen eyes to the light that welcomed everything.  
  
"Koi, step into the light." Something deep within him prompted his foot to oh-so-slightly leave the ground, push through the heavy snow and bring his body into the light. Once there, his strength left him. He collapsed into the heavy snow, now a comfortable pallet.  
  
Was the wind talking to him? He lifted his head up the slightest so he could see over the edge of his indentation. Two blurry forms were hovering around him. They grabbed his arms, saying something about inside and warmth.  
  
Warmth? The word and sensation it stood for seemed a foreign entity. His cold mind could not dredge up a memory from even the icy depths of his soul to fit the description. He had forgotten what warmth was as soon as he realized he was sodden.  
  
Sodden.  
  
Wet.  
  
Wind.  
  
Snow.  
  
Cold.  
  
Tired.  
  
Those feelings and sensations flashed through his mind and ran freely throughout his body, causing him to shiver violently. He couldn't discern the words that were spoken as he kept shivering, his body attempting vainly to regain the heat the wind and snow had so viciously stolen from him.  
  
His knees buckled and the blurs next to him cried out as he slipped from their grasp. Being hauled, roughly, back to his feet he was dragged unceremoniously by his frozen horsetail. He cried out when a spasm in his back made a painful retort against the cold/warm treatment it was receiving.  
  
His dragging stopped when he had cried out. The two blurs once again grabbed his arms and "helped" him struggle into a different world of white. His cold, unmoving eyes watered as the bright light burned, and yet the most movement his frozen muscles could manage was contorting his face into a grimace. Something was put over his eyes, and he had to remember to thank the person.but that thought was quickly frozen along with the rest of his memories and conscious thoughts that entered his mind.  
  
Suddenly he didn't feel so heavy anymore. He turned his head, or at least he attempted to move his head. All that resulted in was another muscle spasm and a verbal response, i.e. a groan. As more time progressed, the feeling of carrying droves of rice sacks on his shoulders diminished to himself once again. He also felt warmer. He blinked, slowly, but he blinked warming eyelids over cold, glassy eyes.  
  
With something slipped onto his shoulders, Tabi was lead from the bright blurry place he had been to a dimmer place that was nice and warm. He sighed, fully content to just stop as soon as he entered the room, but the blurs at his elbows thought otherwise. He was lead to a huge blur, up some steps, and into what his thawing mind told him was a warm bath. He sighed and closed his eyes.  
  
Tabi much enjoyed his bath. He dunked his head every now and then, un- thawing his eyes after a few times. He blinked at the sudden focus of everything. He gave a short laugh and continued splashing in the water like a young boy in the mud.  
  
Sometime later, he didn't exactly know when since the last thing his conscious mind remembered was walking home from the shop, Inu and Neko walked in. Tabi smiled and laughed. He was especially happy to see Inu whole with no scratches.  
  
"Are you better now?" Neko asked. Inu nodded her concern as well.  
  
"I am better, that I am," Tabi replied. He reached for a towel on a nearby rack and laughed when he saw the girls blush madly and run out of the room.  
  
~`~`~  
  
Tabi lay awake on his pallet, hand behind his head and his mind working to try and figure out how he ended up back at the in when the last thing he remembered was walking down the road with his kit. The said kit was lying in a corner of the room, mocking him on how he and it had survived the blizzard.  
  
He eventually gave up when sleep was insistent in its calling. He gave into its calling and allowed his body to fall into the feathery embrace of sleep. 


End file.
